Column: Radiation complication can be treated years later

Amanda Austin

Thanks to early detection and new therapies, the Centers for Disease Control estimate that, today, 65 percent of adults diagnosed with cancer have lived at least five years since their diagnosis.

Yet after beating cancer, some patients who undergo radiation therapy discover a potential side effect years after they concluded treatments.

"Radiation doesn't differentiate between cancerous and healthy tissue," says Scott Covington, MD, FACS, CHWS, Executive Vice President of Medical Affairs for Healogic, a network of nationwide wound care centers. "Radiation causes a lack of oxygen in the body's tissues, but visible symptoms of soft tissue radiation injury may not occur until as much as 20 years later."

More than 1.6 million people will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and about half of all cancer patients undergo radiation therapy. According to the American Cancer Society, serious radiation complications are rare, but they can occur in up to 5 percent of patients.

"Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is the only therapy known to reverse the vascular compromise responsible for late radiation effects," Covington explains. "Nothing is a cure-all, but hyperbaric oxygen therapy offers 60 (percent) to 80 percent of patients either improvement or complete resolution of the injury."

Patients receiving hyperbaric oxygen treatments watch television and movies while relaxing on a bed encased in a large transparent shell as they are surrounded by 100 percent oxygen at higher-than-normal atmospheric pressure. The treatments speed healing by enabling oxygen to pass through the patient's plasma more easily.

The local experts at Riverview Wound Healing & Hyperbaric Center, a member of the Healogic network, provide these tips to identifying and treating radiation injury:

? Radiation injuries are usually not very visible. A biopsy is not always practical, so all other causes of symptoms need to be considered before a diagnosis is made.

? Most common symptoms are blood in the urine, rectal bleeding, vaginal discharge and pain.

? Early skin changes may include redness or changes in pigmentation, itching, wounds caused by excess scratching and pain.

? Areas especially prone to tissue injury are those covering bony prominences, surgical areas and those on the face. Moist skin folds such as those under the breast, the armpit and around the anus and genitals are also vulnerable.

? Radiation injuries often arise after tooth extraction in patients with prior radiation therapy. The second most common group of patients are those who have received radiation to treat gynecological, prostate or colon cancer.

? Radiation injuries may occur spontaneously or in response to a traumatic injury or infection. The wounds may appear superficial, and the pain associated with these injuries is often the reason a patient seeks treatment.

? Patients who currently are receiving chemotherapy must have a thorough review by a hyperbaric physician before being treated for injuries since some drugs may have adverse effects.